Zacchaeus
by BLOEMAERT, Abraham, Pen, brown ink over black chalk, brown wash on brown paper, 233 x 164 mm
Bloemaert not only painted altarpieces in Utrecht, the centre of Catholicism in the Northern Netherlands, but also made drawings for series of engravings of religious subjects. His series of six drawings, The Sinners of the Old and New Testaments, was transferred to copper plate by Willem van Swanenburg. The present depiction of Zacchaeus might have been a quickly sketched first version of the theme, not a direct preliminary drawing.